


Reunion

by SunshineAndSnark (GoodApollo27)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, World of Ruin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 14:11:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16788505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodApollo27/pseuds/SunshineAndSnark
Summary: When Noctis returns after ten years of absence, Ignis finds himself desperate to know what he looks like before they part ways again.





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ebonyphotographs](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Ebonyphotographs).



> A very long overdue fic for ebonyphotographs, who requested the prompt, "fingers brushing together by accident" on Tumblr. I am so sorry that this took... I don't even know how long. But i thank you for your patience, and I hope that you enjoy. I certainly had some fun venturing back into IgNoct content.

The sounds of heavy breathing filled his world. From himself and his comrades.  _ From Noctis. _ Returned to them, at last. Ignis wiped the sweat from his brow, straightening from his lowered stance. He reached out, ready to call his daggers back to his fingers. He had flung one of them somewhere during their battle and lost track of the thing. Foolish. Before he could feel the spark of magic or hear that familiar crystalline crackle, fingers brushed his, pressing warm metal into his palm.

He gasped, tilting his head down.

_ Noct. _

Even after such a long absence, even without his eyes to tell him, he knew. Gentle, a little tentative _. _ A brief caress of fingers over the back of his hand, a gesture of comfort.  _ Noctis. _

There, and then gone, leaving him with a chill to rival that of the endless night.

He opened his mouth, but no words formed. Already, he heard Noctis walking away. He stood in silence. What would he have even said? ‘Wait’? ‘Stay’? ‘Don’t let go’? Unreasonable demands. They had shared a reunion at Hammerhead. Their greetings and hugs and the like.

He frowned, tracing a thumb over the handle of his dagger. Over the warmth where Noct’s hand had been. As nice as it was to hear Noct again, to hold him in a brief embrace and feel his presence beside him, there was still an aching hole in his heart, reopened whenever his King spoke.

He didn’t know what Noctis looked like. After all of these years, the image was still the same as the day he had lost his sight. Perhaps… it was not for him to know.

With a sigh, he dismissed his daggers to the Armiger and followed the sound of footsteps. Onward.

They didn’t reach Insomnia before “nightfall”. Or more accurately, by the time their bodies begin to demand rest. They located a nearby Haven, the runes flickering weakly, but still just enough to keep the daemons at bay. 

The “night” wore on, and despite his own fatigue, Ignis remained restless. As did Noct. He could hear him pacing around, sitting in his camp chair only to rise a few moments later. Ignis couldn't blame him; how does one sleep after telling all of his friends that he is fated to die? And so shortly after their reunion…

He swallowed, turning his head toward the sound of Noct’s foot tapping against the ancient stone. Ten years of his life, taken from him. Stolen away. Ten years that they hadn’t shared, memories that had been denied to them. 

How had those years passed for Noctis? Had he felt them, the agonizing stretch of days? Had he felt them the way that Ignis had, a horrible gap in his life, torn open by the departure of the one he loved? Or had he simply slept, peaceful and unaware? Ignis hoped for the latter. 

There wasn’t much time left for them. Not for hesitation. Not for wondering. He needed to act, if he were to ever know. A soft creak drifted from his chair as he rose to his feet, taking careful steps toward Noctis. There wouldn't be a better time.

Prompto and Gladio had already retreated to the tent, either tired after a “day” of trekking across the night-shrouded desert and fighting off daemons, or simply an attempt to grant their reunited friends some much needed privacy. Either way, he was thankful.

A shift of fabric as he approached, the quiet hush of Noct’s voice. Different, but still the sweetest of sounds.

“Hey. Can’t sleep either, huh?” A hand grasped his arm, halting him from walking forward any further. “Careful. Don’t wanna walk over the edge.”

Ignis’ breath caught at the warm weight upon his arm. He didn’t want it to retreat, to leave him with that same absent chill from earlier. He looked toward Noct, where he thought that his King must be standing, and his lips parted wordlessly again. 

He needed to know. He needed it even more, now that Noct had told them. What he had seen in visions and nightmares after that day in Altissia… all of it an inescapable truth. This could be their last night together. And he- he didn't ’t want Noct to leave him. Not again. Not with that gap in his knowledge, that hole in his heart. He needed to know. 

“Noct… M-may I?” Ignis murmured, already reaching out, as if drawn to Noct by a magnetic force. He couldn't hold back. There was no time for hesitation.

Instead of replying, Noct took his hands, fingers smoothing over ten year’s worth of scars left across Ignis’ knuckles. Battles that he hadn’t shared with his beloved friend, his brother. 

He let Ignis feel his own hands for a moment, graceful fingers sliding over his, slowly reacquainting himself.

_ Minimal changes, _ Ignis noted. At least, from what he could remember. Just a touch stronger. A touch warmer. 

And above all: familiar.

Lovely as it was, he was impatient to shift his attention elsewhere. He needed to know how Noctis  _ looked _ . How ten year’s had changed the face that still filled his dreams and memories. He knew his Prince’s features by heart. But he needed to know what his  _ King _ looked like.

As if sensing exactly what his old friend needed, Noct gently guided Ignis’ hands upward, resting them light against his cheeks. And then, he lifted them away entirely, giving Ignis free rein with a tiny nod, a faint smile.

Ignis shivered, his heart rate picking up. It was strange, but he felt almost frightened. He had waited for so long to “see” Noct, again. To refresh the faded image in his mind. But… he would be so different. Prompto and Gladio had told him as much, and he had heard the years in Noct’s voice. He had aged along with them. Not beside them, as Ignis would have liked, but in parallel. 

A trace of fear lingered in that not knowing. If he shied away, though, he would only regret it. And it would be much longer than ten years before he “saw" Noctis again.

He swallowed, forcing his shaking hands to move slowly, tracing up along the fine contours of cheekbones, his brow, reading every line on Noct’s face as if it held the secrets of the world. 

A little thinner, some of the boyish softness replaced in favor of defined angles. Up around his eyes, all of the small, tired lines etched by time. 

He had no way of knowing just how much Noct’s time in the Crystal had changed his eyes, but not even time could fade the image of them from his memory. A deep velvet cobalt. Like the night sky in Summer, stretching vast above their heads while they camped below. Like the shimmering ocean depths, stretching out beyond their boat as they journeyed to the next fishing spot. 

Like comfort and familiarity. He could only hope that they hadn’t changed too much; he had no way of seeing that part of Noct. That part that could not be touched.

Warmth gathered behind his own eyes and he swallowed against the lump in his throat as he trailed his fingers back down.

And gods, he had  _ stubble. _ A proper  _ beard _ . A shocked, wet little laugh escaped him. He shouldn’t be surprised; even Prompto had a trace of facial hair now. It was just… He had never seen Noct with anything but a perfectly smooth face. He ran his fingers back over the coarse little hairs in fascination, the warmth finally spilling from his eye, a lone tear dripping from his chin. He looked so different.

So handsome.

His King.

His Noct.

Ignis’s fingers hovered just at the corner of Noct’s mouth, too nervous to brush over those lips. He could feel the soft curve of a smile, could feel Noct tilt his head a millimeter as he waited for Ignis to make a decision. One last part of his face to touch, to know. But it seemed a line that he could not cross. As much as he wished to feel, there were… other feelings wrapped up in that desire. Ones that he had spent long and hard suppressing.

His heart jumped as Noct turned his head, trailing those soft lips over his fingers. It nearly stopped when those lips parted, drawing the tips of his index and middle finger into a divine, wet heat.

“ _ Noct _ …” he gasped, cursing the tremble in his voice. Gods help him. His legs threatened to dump him on the rocky Haven surface. He couldn’t see what Noct was doing, couldn’t tell the look in his old friend’s eyes. But with his chin tilted up, he could easily imagine Noct fixing him with a heated gaze, lashes impossibly dark against those striking eyes.

A hand wrapped around his trembling wrist, though not with force. Merely holding him steady as Noct’s tongue drew fire over his digits.

_ Noct _ !” This time, a note of desperation, a hint of a moan behind the single syllable. Though whether desperate for Noct to cease or continue, he couldn’t tell. His thoughts were too clouded, too busy frantically searching for reasons why they shouldn’t-- why they couldn’t do this. And finding none. He felt fit to faint, the chill of the night air doing nothing to calm the spike in his temperature. 

A hint of teeth and a final parting flick of his tongue before Noct pulled away. The loss was instant, sweeping in with the cold breeze against his fingers, still hovering where Noct had held them. 

“Ignis…” His name flowed like honey in Noct’s voice. Rich and warm and deliciously sweet. “Come here.”

He didn’t require any more invitation, his body moving automatically. Summoned by his King.

Hands wove through his hair, drawing him even closer.

“It’s been too long.”

Gods, it had been. It really had been. A lifetime without him. A nightmare spanning years, every morning waking to more darkness and a cold sleeping bag. Days spent aching for that voice.

Noctis cradled the back of his head, tilting him down. Warmth just brushing against his lips. Softness. Teasingly close. A whisper that echoed through his soul, drowning out all else.

“I missed you.”

And then those soft, shy lips pressed against his, firm but unbelievably gentle, giving him the choice to pull away if he so desired.

Like bloody hell he did.

He tilted his head until they fit together perfectly, his breath slipping from between them in a small sigh.

He had always wanted this. Every rare time that Noct smiled at him. Something that he had never been allowed to have.

Until now. The night before they marched back into the Citadel. The night before they fought to regain the light. The night before they fought to regain the world at the cost of what had for so long made up the center of his own. 

It no longer mattered. There were no rules holding them back. No arranged marriage. No duty or responsibility. Just a King and his Advisor. Mere titles, now. 

Just Ignis and Noct.

He shifted forward, pressing against his beloved King with renewed force, electricity running through him as he earned a small noise of surprise.

He pressed back, memorizing how Noct’s body felt against his own, knowing in the back of his mind that this wouldn't last forever. His own hands rose to tangle in Noct’s hair, longer and coarser than in the days of his youth, grasping as if challenging the gods to take his King from him again. He pressed back with every ounce of fervor that Noct gave until lips parted and tongues tangled, teeth clicking together as each sought to drown in the other.

And all the while, tears rolled down his cheeks.

A reacquainting beyond his wildest hopes.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! I have a Tumblr! Come and nerd about FFXV with me or ask me random stuff, tell me about your day, or whatever! Find me under sunshineandsnark27.


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